The market place as well as the patent literature are replete with various types of devices for selectively immobilizing, or bracing, at least some of the wheels of a wheeled sprinkler system used in irrigating agricultural crops.
Exemplary are the following U.S. Pat. Nos.
Jacoby : U.S. Pat. No. 2,766,996 PA1 Cornelius : U.S. Pat. No. 3,071,327 PA1 Gorzell : U.S. Pat. No. 3,684,180 PA1 Cornelius et al : U.S. Pat. No. 4,006,860
And Canadian Pat. No. 978,565 to Williams.
There is, however, considerable room for improvement.
Jacoby's anchor arm 20 is not hinged and exceeds in length the diameter of the wheel so that even if it were hinged it would protrude beyond the periphery of the wheel in folded position.
Cornelius' arm 14 is pivoted but, as in Jacoby, the arm length precludes its being folded to a position within the compass of the wheel.
Gorzell's feet 21 and 22 are foldable into the wheel but the mechanism involved is rather complex and costly.
In Cornelius et al, the arms 164 and 166 are folded substantially into axial alignment with the pipe but the construction of the elongated arms and the moderately complex pivot structure necessarily adds a substantial amount to the cost of the sprinkler system on which they are installed. Similar remarks apply to the Williams device.